Monday, July 10, 2006

More Courthouse Tour newspaper coverage

Saying he is ready to "take on" big oil and big insurance in Texas, Democratic Attorney General hopeful David Van Os paid a visit to Richmond last week to promote his candidacy.

Van Os is looking to unseat incumbent Attorney General Republican Greg Abbott, who was elected to the office in 2002. Speaking before an audience of Democratic supporters at the Fort Bend County courthouse in Richmond, the self-styled "people's" lawyer criticized Abbott for not using the office to break up what he calls oil monopolies and for not enforcing what he sees as collusion in the insurance business.

"That one company is making staggering amounts of profit and you're still being told you have to pay higher and higher and higher prices," he said of Exxon-Mobil.

Van Os said the merger of oil companies like Exxon and Mobil and Chevron and Texaco have contributed to high gas prices and the reduction of jobs in the Gulf Coast area. However, the issue can be tackled from the Attorney General's Office, he said.

"The Attorney General of Texas is a constitutional officer, and he has the tools by virtue of the Texas Constitution and the laws of the state of Texas to literally do something about it," he said.

He said Texas law stating "monopolies are contrary to the genius of free government and shall never be allowed." Antitrust laws, he said, can be used to break up the oil companies. Abbott, said Van Os, has acted as a "corporate mouthpiece," hosting fundraising dinners at $5,000 a plate and accepting money from a "who's-who" of Texas corporations.

...

Van Os urged the audience of Democrats to not engage in defeatism. He said he can win the office in November, and that Democrats need to believe they can win in Texas.

"They can outspend us a million to one and it doesn't matter," he said.

posted by PDiddie at 5:08 PM

Post a Comment

<< News Home